Daily Independent Online.
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Thursday, July 01, 2004.
Red Star Express expands social responsibility profile
By Dele Alao
Business Reporter, Lagos
Red Star Express, one of Nigeria’s most
prominent logistics solution providers, is set to expand its corporate social
responsibility profile with the establishment of a Red Star Foundation, an
initiative through which the company plans to demonstrate its commitment to
impact the community, empower Nigerians and offer them a sense of purpose.
The foundation, which starts with an initial
investment portfolio of N4 million, will form the basis with which the company
will showcase its core values, make new customers, leverage the brand identity
and fortify its corporate reputation.
Also, the foundation will serve as a veritable
platform to alleviate the social risks in its operating environment by building
a lasting relationship with the host communities to benefit them and all other
stakeholders.
Speaking on the foundation, the General Manager,
Corporate Affairs and Marketing, Mr. Obinna Ariwodo, explained that the
floating of Red Star Foundation helps the company to entrench its core values,
which include good corporate governance, manpower development, social
responsibility, performance, passion for excellence and fear of God.
“ We appreciate that in today’s business,
success is not measured only on the account of profitability and performance or
facility acquisition and expansion. Rather, responsible organisations are
expected to impact the community and the environment in which they
operate”, he said.
He added that “in establishing the Red Star
Foundation, we plan to involve a lot of corporate philanthropy initiatives,
including Red Star employee volunteer efforts for community development,
employees’ contribution to endowment fund, educational support (The Red
Star Scholars) and employees’ participation to youth development
programmed and others”. He said the foundation will be launched soon with
a major announcement on one of its initiatives, which is the Red Star
Scholarship Award.
The award, according to Ariwodo, is the
foundation’s pilot project in the area of youth education, empowerment
and development. The scholarship will benefit nine pupils in secondary schools
located within the Oshodi Local Government area of Lagos State. The pupils will
be selected from science, commercial and arts disciplines and is targeted at
the best overall pupils, who will be trained to become Red Star Scholars.
